Important String Functions in PHP MyPHPScriptz.

com

11 Most Important String Functions PHP a

programmer should know
Note : In the below mentioned functions the parameters marked in < and > tags are mandatory and
the parameters marked in [< and >] are optional
substr()
This function returns the part of the string as an output.
Syntax :
substr(<string>,<start>,[<length>]);
Explanation :
String : It is mandatory parameter. The string from which the part is to be extracted is mentioned
here.
Start : The start in the string from which the characters are to be extracted

Positive number - Start at a specified position in the string

Negative number - Start at a specified position from the end of the string
0 - Start at the first character in string

Length : It is an optional parameter. It specifies the length of the string which is to be extracted.

Positive number - The length to be returned from the start parameter

Negative number - The length to be returned from the end of the string

Example 1:
<?php echo substr("Hello world",6); ?> //Returns world
Example 2 :
<?php echo substr("Hello world",6,4); ?> // Returns worl
Example 3 :
<?php echo substr("Hello world", -1); ?> // Returns d
Example 4:
<?php echo substr("Hello world", -3, -1); ?> // Returns rl
strlen()
This function returns the length of the string
Syntax :
strlen(<string>);
Explanation:
String : It is mandatory field. The string whose length is to be found out is mentioned here.
Example 1:
Important String functions in PHP

MyPHPScriptz.com

Important String Functions in PHP MyPHPScriptz.com

<?php echo strlen("Hello world"); ?> // Returns 11
trim()
This function removes the whitespaces from both start and the end of the string.
Syntax :
trim(<string>);
Explanation :
String : It is mandatory field. The string of which the whitespaces are to be removed is passed as
parameter.
Example 1:
<?php echo trim( "
Hello World "); ?> // returns Hello World. If you go view source then you
can see that there are no whitespaces.
ltrim()
This function removes the whitespaces from the left part of the string.
Syntax :
ltrim(<string>);
Explanation :
String : It is mandatory field. The string of which the whitespaces are to be removed from left side is
passed as parameter.
Example 1:
<?php echo ltrim( "
Hello World "); ?> // returns Hello World. If you go view source then you
can see that there are no whitespaces on left side but there are spaces on right side.
rtrim()
This function removes the whitespaces from the right part of the string.
Syntax :
rtrim(<string>);
Explanation :
String : It is mandatory field. The string of which the whitespaces are to be removed from right side
is passed as parameter.
Example 1:
<?php echo rtrim( "
Hello World "); ?> // returns Hello World. If you go view source then you
can see that there are no whitespaces on right side but there are spaces on left side
strtolower()
This function converts the string to lower case

Important String functions in PHP

MyPHPScriptz.com

Important String Functions in PHP MyPHPScriptz.com

Syntax :
strtolower(<string>);
Explanation :
String : It is mandatory field. The string which is to be converted to lower case is passed here.
Example 1:
<?php echo strtolower("HELLO WORLD"); ?> // Returns hello world
strtoupper()
This function converts the string to upper case
Syntax :
strtoupper(<string>);
Explanation :
String : It is mandatory field. The string which is to be converted to upper case is passed here.
Example 1:
<?php echo strtoupper("hello world"); ?> // Returns HELLO WORLD

str_replace()
The str_replace() function replaces some characters with some other characters in a string.
This function works by the following rules:

If the string to be searched is an array, it returns an array

If the string to be searched is an array, find and replace is performed with every array
element
If both find and replace are arrays, and replace has fewer elements than find, an empty
string will be used as replace
If find is an array and replace is a string, the replace string will be used for every find value

Syntax :
str_replace(<search>,<replace>,<string/array>,[<count>]);
Explanation :
Search : It is mandatory . The string or value to be searched comes here.
Replace : It is mandatory. The string or value to be replaced comes here.
String/Array : It is mandatory. The string or array in which the value is to be found out comes here.
Count : It is optional. It counts the number of replacements to be done.
Example 1:
<?php echo str_replace("world","Peter","Hello world"); ?>// Returns Hello Peter
Example 2:
<?php
$arr = array("blue","red","green","yellow");
Important String functions in PHP

MyPHPScriptz.com

Important String Functions in PHP MyPHPScriptz.com

print_r(str_replace("red","pink",$arr,$i));
echo "Replacements: $i";
?>
/*
Output :
Array
(
[0] => blue
[1] => pink
[2] => green
[3] => yellow
)
Replacements: 1
*/
Example 3:
<?php
$phrase = "You should eat fruits, vegetables, and fiber every day.";
$healthy = array("fruits", "vegetables", "fiber");
$yummy = array("pizza", "beer", "ice cream");
$newphrase = str_replace($healthy, $yummy, $phrase);
?>
/*
Output :
You should eat pizza, beer, and ice cream every day
*/
strcmp()
The strcmp() function compares two strings.
This function returns:

0 - if the two strings are equal

<0 - if string1 is less than string2
>0 - if string1 is greater than string2

Syntax :
strcmp(<string1>,<string2>);
Explanation :
String1 : It is mandatory. The first string comes here.
String 2 : It is mandatory. The Second string comes here.
Example 1:
<?php echo strcmp("Hello world!","Hello world!"); ?> //Returns 0
Note: The strcmp() function is binary safe and case-sensitive. For case insensitive comparison you
can use strcasecmp(<string1>,<string2>); function. It is similar to strcmp() function.

explode()
This function breaks the string into array on the basis of delimiter passed.
Important String functions in PHP

MyPHPScriptz.com

Important String Functions in PHP MyPHPScriptz.com

Syntax:
explode(<delimeter>,<string>,[<limit>]);
Explanation:
Delimeter: It is mandatory field. It specifies where to break the string.
String: It is mandatory. It specifies the string to split.
Limit : It is optional. It specifies the maximum number of array elements to return.
Example 1:
<?php
$str = "Hello world. It's a beautiful day.";
print_r (explode(" ",$str));
?>
/* Output :
Array
(
[0] => Hello
[1] => world.
[2] => It's
[3] => a
[4] => beautiful
[5] => day.
)
*/
implode()
This function join array elements with a string on the basis of delimiter passed.
Syntax:
implode(<delim>,<array>);
Explanation:
Delimiter: It is mandatory field. It specifies what to put between the array elements. Default is "" (an
empty string).
Array: It is mandatory field. It specifies the array to join to a string.
Example 1:
<?php
$arr = array('Hello','World!','Beautiful','Day!');
echo implode(" ",$arr);
?>
/*
Output:
Hello World! Beautiful Day!
*/

Important String functions in PHP

MyPHPScriptz.com